Last names that end in man...?

Question

My friend told me that 99.9% of the time if someone's last name ends in man, they're Jewish. However my last name is Getman and as far as I know, there is no one in my family that is Jewish. Does anyone else's last name end in man, and you're not Jewish? And is what my friend said true? Thanks.

Answer 1

The ending -man is a common one in German surnames. Most Jews in the West are Ashkenazi (from Europe), and the majority of those have roots in Germany, so many Jews have German last names with -man/mann like "Goldman." "-berg" is another common ending that's just as German.

Answer 2

I would guess that it would imply a type of career held by an ancestor of yours.

   For example, a 'cooper' was a barrel maker.

Answer 3

Whitemann

Answer 4

I don't know , my last name ends in man, and I'm Jewish

Answer 5

NO thats not true becuz my ex-BF's last name is Bogart and he was Jewish and my friend from school last name is Levin and shes Jewish.  your friend is wrong

Answer 6

It's hard to imagine any Jewish ancestors for Harriet Tubman.

Your friend is ignorant.

Answer 7

Hoffmann, Neumann, Zimmermann, Hartmann, Hofmann, Lehmann, and Herrmann are all in the top 50 last names in Germany. Therefore, it is pretty safe to say that those people all aren't Jewish.  Zimmermann for example is a carpenter... I highly doubt all carpenters are Jewish!

Take a look at this:

http://german.about.com/od/germanicgenea...

Answer 8

No it is not a true statement to make.

Last names with the suffix 'man/n' are widespread and are  not specific to people of the Jewish faith, who will naturally have the same sort of names, in general, as anyone else. The suffix has the following meaning when attached to a last name.

-man (English) "servant of," (Turkish) "male person"

-mann (German) "servant of"

Answer 9

No that is not true. If a last name ends in Man it can be English, German, Sweden, lots of places not just Jewish. Usually it is a family name that has been handed down as a trades person of some sort.

Sunshine G.

Answer 10

Temmerman ~ from Belguim, not Jewish.

Answer 11

Herman

Berman

Silverman

Answer 12

He-Man

Goldman

Sometimes names and religions have changed over the years, my friend's last name is London and she's Jewish, it turns out her grandparents or someone had to change it to get out of Poland about... 60 something years ago. So having man in your last name is not always Jewish.

Cheers